Media Releases

05/01/18 This weekend kicks off “Ele Eme” season at the Staten Island Museum. Starting Saturday, May 5 artist Lina Montoya A.K.A. “Ele Eme” will lead monthly Family Art workshops where she will share her inspiration and techniques as guests discover different materials and concepts found in her work. Each workshop explores a unique theme in the artist’s practice from found objects and collaborations to textile art and indigenous culture.

04/25/18 The Staten Island Museum hold its annual fundraiser on May 18, celebrating a new era in leadership and honorees that epitomize commitment to community. The honorees are Ralph Branca, Staten Island Museum’s immediate past Board Chairman and CEO of Victory State Bank; historian, educator, and professional genealogist Debbie-Ann Paige; and Jee Ra, principal of the Korean School of Staten Island and program director of the Korean Community Development Center. Gala co-chairs are Kashif Pervez and Oswaldo Pena. This year’s annual gala is the first under the leadership of recently appointed President and CEO Janice Monger, who began her tenure in September 2017.

03/01/18 March is Women’s History Month and the Staten Island Museum will celebrate Staten Island women writers. On March 11 at 2:00pm poet Dr. Marguerite Maria Rivas will facilitate an open reading from the works of great Staten Island writers: Audre Lorde, Dorothy Day, and Catherine Murray among others. Readers are encouraged to participate.

12/14/17 The Staten Island Museum is proud to announce a new exhibition Impractical Jokers: Homecoming, opening in June 2018. The exhibition will give visitors a front row seat to iconic objects, costumes, and behind-the-scenes clips and stories from truTV’s hit television series, Impractical Jokers.

11/28/17 Mmmm your way through a market full of delicious local and regional treats to give this holiday season! Since the farmer’s market season has ended, the Museum is bringing these artisanal tastes, bites, and gift-able take-homes indoors! Specialty items from the purveyors of mouthwatering edible goods, expertly curated by Staten Island Advance Food Editor, Pamela Silvestri, will be for sale at the Staten Island Museum’s Edible Island Market on December 2, 11am – 3pm.

11/03/17 This longer, broader, island-wide romp is chock full of iconic Staten Island locations, history, and competition. Each team will need a car to get around and at least one social media enabled cell phone to document their findings.

10/03/17 For the first-time ever, the New York International Children’s Film Festival (NYICFF) - the largest film festival for kids and teens – is coming to Staten Island. Partnering with the Staten Island Museum, NYICFF will present the best short films of 2017 on October 14th and 15th.

08/28/17 Starting this August the Staten Island Museum is displaying a series of seven original prints by Rembrandt, the master of the copper plate intaglio. The prints, which are part of the Museum’s permanent collection, span three decades of the artist’s life and reflect the variety of his subjects.

08/24/17 Calling all artists, craftspeople, and art-lovers! On Saturday, September 16, from 11am – 5pm, the 67th Annual Staten Island Museum Fence Show is back for another year of stunning original art and unique creations.

07/21/17 Janice Monger will lead the Staten Island Museum as its new President & CEO, effective September 13.
With the appointment, Board Chair David Businelli stated, “After a national search, the Board is in unanimous agreement that Janice Monger is uniquely qualified to shape a 21st Century vision for the Staten Island Museum. She brings deep experience in the museum field and has proven her ability as a leader and creative thinker. The Trustees look forward to working with Janice as we build on the Museum’s 136 year history.”

07/13/17 Donated by Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, tickets and a meet and greet with Ingrid are being auctioned off through CharityBuzz.com to benefit the Staten Island Museum. The winners are able to bring something small to be signed and take photographs with Ingrid after the show. Bidding is now open and closes on Wednesday, July 26.

07/03/17 Summer Nights is a series of events for the culturally minded who like to have fun. From leather working to beginner embroidery and an Island-wide scavenger hunt, and an Eclipse party complete with Karaoke Tremendous (fresh off their re-start at Union Hall), the Museum has your Thursday nights planned for the summer.

06/25/17 The Staten Island Museum has done it again! Come celebrate National Moth Week at Moth Night! with the Staten Island Museum in collaboration with the Staten Island Children’s Museum on Saturday, July 29 at 8:30pm.

03/27/17 The three works that the Staten Island Museum has on loan are dispersed throughout the mansion and will be seen by tour groups from elementary schools to adults from NYC, the USA, and the world.

03/24/17 This year the Staten Island Museum is celebrating their founding in natural history and ecological preservation at their Spring Gala: Rooted in Staten Island. The event is being held on Saturday, May 13 at 7:00pm at the Vanderbilt at South Beach.

02/07/17 Monumental paintings of iconic African-Americans and others will be mounted at the Staten Island Museum in St. George to open during Black History Month. This powerful series of large-scale paintings by Warren Lyons depicts historic figures from American history and the arts. Opening Saturday, February 18 at 1:00pm, on view through June 18, 2017 at the Staten Island Museum in St. George.

01/24/17 Say goodbye to the year of the Monkey and hello to the year of the Rooster as the Staten Island Museum and the Korean School of Staten Island celebrate Lunar New Year with traditional games, food, and activities!

01/23/17The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design 2016 GOOD DESIGNTM Award The Staten Island Museum, a century long leader in environmental preservation that continues to find innovative ways of connecting communities to art, history, and natural science has been awarded a 2016 GOOD DESIGN™ Award from the The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies for the Staten Island Museum at Snug Harbor.

01/11/17 What's Love Got To Do With It?
On the evening of Thursday, January 19 the Staten Island Museum is taking the comment section offline and hosting a unique panel of community leaders to discuss current affairs and share experiences of compassion in civic life.

01/04/17 1st Saturdays Filled with Family Art, and Super Science Saturdays to keep the kids busy all winter long. This winter, and beyond, the Museum is offering activities for all ages to expand young minds, get hands on, and explore creativity. 1st Saturdays Family Art Workshops, offered on the first Saturday of every month presents hands on art activities that incorporate history, science, or an introduction to a specific tradition or culture. For the family member who likes to experiment, the Staten Island Museum also offers Super Science Saturdays every third Thursday of the month.

05/29/15The Doors Will Open! After 4 years of construction, the $26.8 million City-funded renovation of Building A into the new home of the Staten Island Museum at Snug Harbor is complete. The Museum is currently in the process of outfitting the space with its inaugural exhibitions which will open to the public with much fanfare on Saturday, September 19, 2015 at 10:00am.

04/02/15 Opening on April 25, 2015 this exhibition presents a selection of prints made by photographer Michael Falco. Falco’s commitment to American stories and passion for Civil War history led him on a four-year battlefield to battlefield journey along the anniversary tracks of the American Civil War - 150 years later. The project ,which began in 2011, has been recognized by the Library of Congress and has been accepted into the National Archive.

01/01/15 The Betty Bressi Retrospective will explore works from the painter, paper weaver, teacher, poet, and editor’s 70+ year creative career spanning from her early works made in a Japanese resettlement camp during World War II to her last paper weavings and book works.
Visitors will gain insights into her creative processes and evolution, from a representational painter, to her commitment to abstraction and her personal form of lyrical abstraction, with joyous, whimsical inflections. The exhibition spins out from her personal concerns about observing nature, grid systems, patterns, and words/letter forms as images.

02/26/13 The Staten Island Museum welcomed 18 dedicated women to their History Center in Building H on the Snug Harbor Campus last week for a kick-off meeting to form a Museum Guild which is being designed to help the Museum with specific fundraising goals, event support and volunteerism.

02/13/13 The Staten Island Museum has gathered a panel of community historians and academics poised to discuss a hot topic at the College of Staten Island’s Center for the Arts Recital Hall on Saturday, February 23, 2013 9:30am – 1:00pm: Abolitionists in New York and the existence of Underground Railroad activity on Staten Island.

01/31/13 All over Staten Island and neighboring territories, naturalists are eagerly awaiting one of the more interesting natural phenomena to unfold, namely, the reappearance of the 17-year cicada. The last time the Island was privy to this display was back in 1996. This year, the Staten Island Museum is starting a bit ahead of the brood to ready the public for this once in a generation happening with their aptly named exhibit, They’re Baaack!!! Return of the 17-Year Cicada.

01/29/13 The Capital Campaign for the Staten Island Museum received a major boost with a $450,000 grant from the Richmond County Savings Foundation in support of two major exhibitions. Today, Cesar Claro, Executive Director, announced at a press conference in the Staten Island Museum’s History Center in Building H at Snug Harbor that the Richmond County Savings Foundation’s board of directors approved a $450,000 grant.

11/20/12 It seems like a scene from an old horror flick: up in an ancient attic surrounded by boxes of pinned insects and a human skeleton, sits a young man brooding over a 100 year old Cicada specimen. Yet this is today, and the young man, twenty-four year old Alexander Bolesta, is holding a bar-coding device and records each of thousands of insects.

10/23/12 While the nation is going through trying financial times, a few funders have come through for underserved school children by awarding the Staten Island Museum grants to continue their outreach initiative for local students. The Museum is extremely grateful to have the continued support of several organizations including MetLife Foundation ($20,000), Target ($20,000), Barker Welfare Foundation ($12,500), Northfield Bank Foundation (7,500), and TD Charitable Foundation ($2,500) Bank. Public support comes from the Office of City Councilwoman Debi Rose ($8,000) and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.

10/19/12 You may not recognize his name, but you will definitely be familiar with his artwork. Brooklyn-born wildlife artist Charles R. Knight (1874-1953) spent a lifetime creating some of the first paintings and sculptures of dinosaurs, mammoths, and cavemen that were both spectacularly beautiful and scientifically accurate.

10/14/12 Rutkin's paintings, drawings and prints are intimate journeys through nature, memory and myth. They explore an interior world of poetry and philosophy through forms rendered in rich and subtle tones.

08/10/12 The second longest running outdoor art show in New York City history is back and looking for artists to display their fine arts and contemporary crafts. The Staten Island Museum’s 62nd Annual Fence show is open to artists of all ages and mediums to display and/or sell their original creations on the grounds of Snug Harbor Cultural Center on Saturday, September 15 from 11am – 5pm. Applications are now available to pick up at the Museum, or download from the Museum’s website. Artist’s display spaces are 8’ x 10’ and range from $30 - $65, no more than two artists per space.

07/31/12 The Staten Island Museum is thrilled to welcome back homegrown singer songwriter, Ingrid Michaelson, on Saturday, September 22, at 8pm for her second concert to benefit the Museum. After 2010’s sold out performance at the Music Hall, a 700 seat venue at Snug Harbor Cultural Center, the Museum has moved the concert to a bigger, even more “ferry friendly” location: the 1,785 seat, St. George Theatre at 35 Hyatt Street, which you may recognize from its starring role on NBC’s hit Smash!

05/31/12 The Board of Trustees of the Staten Island Museum and Event Co-chairs Dorothea Killea-Meaney and Constance B. Lane invite you to spend the afternoon at this light-hearted fete designed to provide a window into the Museum’s collection.

05/25/12 In between the graduations, birthday parties, BBQs and other jam packed June activities, take some time with your family to get back to nature at the Staten Island Museum’s annual outdoor extravaganza, NatureFest 2012 on Saturday, June 9, from 11am – 3pm at Willowbrook Park (near the Carousel).

04/26/12 Today at a press conference in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan with American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, it was announced that the Staten Island Museum was among the 40 New York City institutions vying for the prestigious Partners in Preservation grant.

04/12/12 Today, the Staten Island Museum’s President & CEO Elizabeth Egbert was joined by New York City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe and Staten Island Parks Commissioner Adena Long along with Museum volunteers to unveil the refurbished Purple Martin colony at Lemon Creek Park on Staten Island.

03/14/12 The Staten Island Museum, which sits overlooking the Staten Island Ferry terminal in New York City’s greenest borough, is celebrating its 130th year by planning and preparing for its second substantial growth spurt in the past 100 years, and to do that it has brought on some new talent.

02/24/12 Celebrating its 130th year, the Staten Island Museum is going through some life changes. Construction is in full swing on the renovation of their future home in Building A on the grounds of Snug Harbor Cultural Center, they have rebranded with a colorful new logo, updated Mission Statement, and now a brand new, fully functionally, user friendly website, StatenIslandMuseum.org.